Crash Landing
by BrusselsSprout
Summary: Zuko is bad at being good, Katara is good at being mad. Destiny smashes their heads together, when they crash on a remote island after the failed invasion. With the world's fate hanging in the balance, they have no choice, but to take a crash-course in survival, teamwork and friendship together. S3-AU diverging at the end of The Eclipse. 2019 Zutara Exchange. Cross-posted from ao3
1. Chapter 1

Zuko groaned in frustration. He had only been good for an hour and already everything had gone horribly wrong. All his plans turned upside down, which was the reason Zuko never bothered to plan in the first place. Except this time he did. It was even a good plan. He prepared a war balloon full of supplies and hid it at the edge of the city. He even packed Iroh's brass teapot and a selection of his favourite tea-blends. All he needed was to free Uncle and the two of them would have been on their merry way to the Avatar who naturally would have been happy to get the chance to learn from as great a firebending teacher as the Dragon of the West. Maybe even happy enough to let Zuko stay and help.

Instead, he was too late, Iroh broke himself out without leaving his nephew a message and Zuko was a fugitive traitor prince all by his lonesome self. Not that he blamed his uncle. In Iroh's place he wouldn't have wanted to see him either; probably ever again. Which is why Zuko decided to go for the grand rescue gesture. But Uncle didn't need him, surely never had. Maybe except that one time when he was taken by the earthbenders almost naked.

Well, there was no turning back now, he made sure to burn every bridge when he walked away. Zuko had to face the Avatar's group by himself and convince them somehow to let him join. The eclipse ended, firebending was back on and by the sounds of it, the invasion was failing. It was time to get out.

Zuko reached the rock where he hid the war ballon. He noticed something blue lying on the ground nearby. Zuko went to take a closer look and his heart stopped for a fearful moment when he realized who it was: the Avatar's waterbender. _That was bad. Really bad. _He leaned closer, putting his hand above her mouth. Luckily, she was still breathing. Zuko let out a relieved sigh; that was good.

Maybe saving the girl was his first chance of really being good. Zuko scooped her up and lifted her into the basket of the balloon with a grunt. He hopped in, released the ropes and the balloon took off just in time to see the Avatar's bison disappear on the horizon towards the setting sun. It looked like they were heading to the Western Air Temple. Zuko followed them at a safe distance. Once the direction was set, he turned his attention back to the girl. He had to try to wake her up to make sure she had no concussion. Zuko pulled out his waterskin trying to splash some water on her face.

-0-

_Zap. _A spark jolted Katara awake. She felt fresh breeze, which was probably a good sign. Her last memory was fighting the firebenders in the chaos of the withdrawal, then falling. She got knocked out probably, if the pain in the back of her head was any indication.

As her eyes fluttered open, instead of seeing Aang or Sokka, she found herself to be staring into Prince Jerk's familiar yellow eyes.

"Ah, you're awake, good," he smiled at her with relief which made her wonder if this was a weird hallucination. She had never seen him smile - his facial expression usually ranged between an angry snarl and a sullen growl.

"You zapped me," Katara moaned, touching her buzzing head. It was the latest addition to her long mental list of grievances against him.

"Uhm. Sorry," he muttered looking at his hands in embarrassment.

"Here…this may help," He lifted something into Katara's line of vision and she had to bite her lips not to laugh in his face. Giving water to an angry waterbender. He was an even bigger idiot than he seemed.

"Whatever your plan is, it's not going to work. I'll never lead you to Aang," she hissed narrowing her eyes.

Zuko frowned and scratched his head. "Actually, what I wanted to say is…"

Katara had no intention of waiting for what he wanted to say. She had to act fast before he realized his mistake and took the water away from her. She summoned the element to her hand and lashed out with a sharp water whip.

He ducked instinctively and the water whip went straight past his head, slashing right through… _oh spirits _… Katara didn't realize they were in a balloon. And they were losing altitude fast.

Zuko jumped to his feet and tried frantically pumping more heat into the furnace but it hardly made any difference. The hot air went straight through the damaged material. The basket was spinning out of control as the ground - the line between shimmering blue water and black land - was getting closer. Katara summoned a large wave just as they crashed into a beach to soften their landing. The impact lifted them both from the balloon. Zuko somehow managed to wrap himself around her, as they rolled down the shore, soaked, limbs entangled. They came to a halt when they bumped into the rocks, Zuko's back and shoulder taking the brunt of the impact.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked angrily.

"Trying to make sure you don't get crushed." Zuko replied calmly as if he had regularly been in the business of saving people, instead of chasing them around the world and attacking them.

Katara pushed him away and jumped to her feet."I'm not crushed. Now get off of me. And stay away. I have enough water here to bury you," she motioned to the ocean.

Zuko scrambled to his feet as well; his soaked hair sticking in every direction made him look like a wet boarcupine. "I wasn't going to attack you. What I was trying to say before you wrecked my balloon is that I've changed. I'm good now." He placed a hand on his heart in a gesture of contrition.

Katara stared at him in disbelief not knowing whether she should cry, laugh or attack. "You are good now."

He nodded earnestly. "Yes, I realized that I was bad before and did some things I probably shouldn't have."

_Right, understatement of the year._

"Like stealing my mother's necklace?" Katara couldn't help bringing up her greatest grievance against him.

He looked indignant at the accusation, but he kept his voice level. "I told you before. I didn't steal it. I found it… Anyways, it doesn't matter. I was on the way to join the Avatar and was going to give you a lift since you…"

This time Katara didn't even try to keep back the sharp laughter. "Have you lost your mind? How would you even think any of us could ever trust you again after everything you've done?"

"I told you, I changed. I'm not that person anymore," he raised both his hands.

"We've heard that before and look how that turned out for us," by which she mostly meant herself. It was her and her only who was stupid enough to ever trust him. She was going to tell Aang to give him a chance before he jumped in the fight in the Crystal Caves and attacked them. Attacked her. Well, never again.

Zuko looked away and bowed his head. At least he looked ashamed.

"This time it is different," he said quietly.

"Oh, this time is different?" Katara yelled. How did he have the nerve. She summoned some water to her hand and pushed a forceful blast in his direction. "Go away. I don't want to see you again."

Zuko fell down into the sand looking at her with a mixture of surprise and resignation. She expected him to jump to his feet and fight, but he stayed down and curled up into a ball waiting for the next strike. Something twisted inside Katara. Her rage was justified, but she couldn't bring herself to strike him again - not when he was down, not defending himself. It confused her. She let the water splash into the sand and turned away.

Zuko got to his feet, sighed and walked away, which was not an easy feat, considering the barren black beach they crashed on was tiny, surrounded by sharp, vertical cliffs in every direction. The firebender stared at the rocks for a moment then seemed to reach a decision. He moved up the cliffside like a spider-monkey, finding handholds and footholds where there appeared to be none. Katara let out a sharp gasp when he seemed to slip for a moment, but he caught his balance and disappeared out of sight.

The beach felt oddly empty without him.

-0-

Being good was an unmitigated disaster so far. It seemed like all he managed to achieve was a record number of failures:

He almost got killed by his father He failed to free uncle His balloon was wrecked He was stuck on an island with a waterbender who hated him (with good reason) He had no idea what to do next

Zuko looked around at the top of the cliff. It was a generous overstatement to call the barren rock an island. It was smaller than the garden of the Fire Nation palace, and had no vegetation or any apparent source of water. They would have to find a way off it very fast if they didn't want to die, but the sun was setting, so they would have to survive the night somehow.

He climbed back down the vertical cliffside. There seemed to be just a hint of relief flickering in Katara's eyes when he landed next to her into the soft sand, which immediately turned into an angry glare.

"Where are we anyways?" she asked, her voice cold.

"On some island. Or a barren rock more precisely," Zuko clarified.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, I can see that. Which island?"

"How should I know?" Zuko shrugged.

"Isn't this your country?"

"There are 3072 islands in the Fire Nation," Zuko recited like a school boy. It was one of those useless things they drilled him with endlessly as a kid during lessons when he was staring out the window wishing he could be outside playing or sneaking around.

"Are you sure it's not 3073?" Katara asked sarcastically.

Zuko blinked and scratched his ears. "Well, unless there was a new one forming since I went to school. Most of them are volcanic, so they are changing constantly."

"Of course they are. This whole spirit-forsaken land is just ash and flames. In any case…" she picked up a stick and drew a line in the sand dividing the tiny beach in half. "This is my part of Nameless Island. You better stay on your side or..." she pointed threateningly to the water. Zuko got the picture.

The rule was ridiculous, but a good person probably wouldn't point that out. Well, Uncle was the only good person he knew and he never argued with Zuko when he went around shouting unreasonable rules on his ship, which was twice a day on average. He had been such an insufferable jerk, he realized with shame.

"Whatever," he muttered. He had to convince her to cooperate somehow, but it was better to pick up the discussion the following day after a good night sleep.

Luckily, the broken pieces of the balloon were mostly on his side, so he busied himself salvaging anything he could, taking inventory of what they had. He still had a spy-glass and his swords, plus two waterskins, Uncle's favourite brass teapot - a bit bent from the crash, a couple of wet maps, his dagger, some rope. The food bag got soaked, turning most of the fireflakes he packed into a disgusting mush.

"Would you like some food?" he asked, holding out the bag to Katara.

She glanced at the unappetizing fireflakes with disgust.

"I don't need your stupid Fire Nation food, I'm perfectly capable of making my own," she spat angrily and marched into the waves, bending furiously. She looked magnificent as she manipulated the water with ease, her dark brown wavy hair swept by the wind. Zuko realized that it was more than just fishing, it was a demonstration meant to intimidate him. _It kind of worked too_. Soon she returned triumphantly with two shiny silver fish and plopped down on her own half with a frown.

Zuko bowed his head to hide his amusement under his hair. Good people did not point out smugly that she did not have a knife to clean the fish or spark rocks to make fire. Good people instead tried to help out selflessly, which is what Zuko did.

After picking up some flotsam wood, he lit a small fire right on the line she drew, careful not to cross it accidentally. He tossed his knife over to Katara's side. She bit her lips and hesitated for a moment. Hunger seemed to win over pride, so she picked up the knife, cleaning and gutting the fish with expert movements and cooking them over the fire. She tossed back his knife wordlessly, one of the cooked fish skewered on it.

They ate in silence. It was flavourless, but much better than the seawater-soaked fireflake mush. Zuko tossed over one of the waterskins to her side and laid down in the soft sand, turning his back to the her. He pretended to sleep, but was just watching the moon reflect on the water through his eyelashes, trying to figure out his next move. Uncle used to resolve disagreements over noodles and tea, but Zuko doubted it would work with Katara. In any case, he had neither of those things.

Being good was the hardest thing ever.

-0-

Katara woke to the sound of feet pattering on the wet sand. The sun was already bright and she blinked a few times to adjust to the blinding light.

Zuko was standing in the water, stripped to his pants, revealing his lean muscular back. _Wait, _she did not just notice the attractiveness of Prince Treacherous' body. That's definitely not what she was doing - it was purely an objective observation, measuring up her adversary. With her objectivity restored, she could not help noticing the ugly purple-blue bruises around his shoulder, probably from the impact of the crash. Maybe she should heal those, after all he took the hit for her, she thought.

Katara sat up and spotted a neat row of oysters placed on the dividing line, like an offering. Zuko returned holding a teapot. Katara flashed back suddenly to the bizarre sight of seeing him in a tea shop in Ba Sing Se in an apron with a tray. Thinking of Ba Sing Se made her angry again and reminded her why she could not trust him.

"What is this?" she asked coldly, pointing at the line of shellfish.

"Breakfast. You said you didn't like Fire Nation food, so I figured I'd get something else. Though this is technically Fire Nation waters so I guess that makes these... " He trailed off. What an insufferable blabbermouth he was. He rubbed his neck nervously. "I used to collect them with my cousin. They are really good."

"I didn't know you have a cousin."

"Had," he corrected her.

Katara was about to make a sharp comment about one less murderous royal, but something in his eyes held her back. She recognized the grief and sadness.

"Oh."

Katara turned her attention back to the neat row of oysters. She couldn't remember anyone other than Gran-Gran ever bothering to make breakfast for her after her mother's death. It was an oddly caring gesture from an angry jerk. She picked up one of the shellfish, and slurped out the flesh. It was surprisingly pleasant, slightly salty, slightly tangy flavour.

Zuko in the meantime tried to fasten the waterskin to the spout of the pot. Once he was successful, he began heating it up by placing his palms on either side of the teapot. _Wait, he could do that? _Katara always thought that firebending was giant explosions, but this move was rather nice, almost domestic.

"What are you doing? A tea party?" Katara frowned.

"I'm trying to make some clean water for us to drink. I don't think there is any fresh water on this rock," he replied.

That was actually not a totally terrible idea. She always assumed that he was a spoiled prince, who got everything in life on a silver spoon. She wouldn't have pegged him for someone with any survival skills.

"Where did you learn that?" she asked.

"Floating on the sea," he said between gritted teeth without looking at her. He yelped in frustration when the waterskin kept sliding off the spout of the tea-pot.

Katara watched his futile efforts for a while. He was an insistent idiot, she had to give him that. "That's never going to work. Give me the waterskin," she said finally. "Now heat it."

Zuko placed his palms on either side of the teapot and concentrated. Soon white steam swirled in the air. Katara caught it and bent it into the waterskin.

"Oh. Excellent teamwork," he remarked in an upbeat voice. Katara gave him a hostile glare. Just because they made water together for survival purposes, didn't make them a team. She turned her back on him and stomped down to the water, with the best disgruntled Toph-impression she could muster.

Close to the edge of the water, all the wood from the balloon's basket was stacked in a neat pile next to the engine of the balloon which was laid out in pieces. _When did he do all this?_

"You have been busy. What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"I'm trying to see if there is anything we can use this for," Zuko pointed at the metal pieces.

"And?" Katara raised an eyebrow hopefully. Maybe he was not totally useless.

Zuko shook his head dejectedly. "I have no idea what any of these pieces do."

Katara grimaced. Typical. Of course, she would be stuck on an uninhabited island with an idiot jerk prince, who possessed no mechanical skills whatsoever.

"Sokka could probably turn this into some crazy contraption," she noted ruefully. She missed Sokka. Even his idiotic jokes. Sokka always had a crazy plan or two, even in the most hopeless situations. Even if the ideas were ludicrous, it was reassuring.

"Sokka?" he asked confused.

"My brother."

"Boomerang guy?" he clarified arching his good eyebrow.

"Yes. Are you daft or something? You've been chasing us all around the world and you don't even know our names?" Katara yelled and the waves rose with her anger, threatening to wash away the neat piles he made.

"I know yours," he said defensively.

_Yeah, well, duh _. They were locked up together after all.

"Fine. Anyone else?" she challenged him.

"The Avatar," he supplied warily.

"...Aang," Katara corrected him, trying to hold back the angry tears piercing her eyes. "He has a name. You keep calling him the Avatar, like he's some kind of relic. He's a real kid, he's good and kind and he's probably worried about me. Probably even Toph is worried about me..." _dammit _, she couldn't help it, the tears were flowing. She missed them so terribly.

Zuko shifted from one foot to the other, then he said on a voice that was both scratchy and smoky, but also soothingly warm somehow. "Katara… We'll find them." He said her name in a way like someone trying out an exotic fruit for the first time.

"How do you know?"

"Remember? Tracking people is kind of my specialty," he said with a self-deprecating smile. "And we must get out of here, so we will," he added with a grim determination that felt oddly calming. Katara wiped away her tears.

"So what's the plan?" she asked between sniffles.

"First, we need to get off this island. There is no water or food here. My uncle and I used a small raft made of driftwood to escape from the North Pole, we could do the same," he pointed at the pitiful pile of wood from the basket of the balloon.

"And how did that work out for you?" Katara grimaced.

"It was horrible," he said quietly, his eyes lost in a painful memory. "There were so many dead floating in the water, so much destruction. Then we had no food, no water. Towards the end, uncle lost his consciousness. I thought he'd die. I thought we'd both die. But we made it."

Katara thought back to the North Pole. They were celebrating their victory when the Fire Nation fleet was destroyed, not really sparing a thought for all the dead. It must have been a horrific journey._ Or he was just lying to get her sympathy, just like in Ba Sing Se._

"I thought you had a ship," she noted full of suspicion.

"Zhao blew it up," grimaced Zuko.

"Wasn't Zhao also Fire Nation?" asked Katara incredulously.

"It's complicated," Zuko sighed, not volunteering any more explanation.

Katara felt vexed again. "Everything with you people is complicated, and we are the ones that are left to suffer."

"I want to change that. That's why we need to get back to the Avatar…" he paused noticing her scowl and corrected himself, "to Aang...so I can help him

He seemed earnest enough. But Katara had seen this before, she would not fall for his dirty liar tricks again.

"And how do you plan to help?" she asked suspiciously.

"He still needs to learn firebending, right? I can teach him," Zuko said simply. That was not what she had expected to hear at all. The worst bit was that Zuko was right too; now that the invasion plan failed, that was the only course of action left.

"You are probably the last person he wants as a teacher," she said venomously. Aang was sometimes unreasonably friendly and forgiving, but she doubted that he'd want anything to do with Prince Jerkface.

Zuko bit his lips. "Probably. But I may be his only choice. It's bigger than either of us."

He did have a point. And in any case, it was a decision for Aang to make.

Katara pursed her lips and crossed the line to the pile of wood. "Are you coming? All this talking won't build us a raft."

They worked all day to tie together the raft from the broken pieces of the basket and the float-wood they found on the beach, using strips of the red material of the balloon. They fixed a rudimentary sail on it. Neither of them had much talent for shipbuilding, so the raft did look pitiful, small and flimsy.

"It doesn't have to hold long," Zuko sighed. Well, that wasn't exactly confidence inspiring. "We only have to make it to a bigger island with more trees or possibly people. If we keep going west, there should be some not far from here", he pointed to a black blotch on the soaked maps. Since the ink bled all together, Katara had to take his word for it. She hoped he paid attention during his geography classes at his fancy schools.

-0-

Katara's skeptical face mirrored his own doubts. Their raft was unlikely to last long, but there was no alternative. They had no chance of surviving long on this barren rock and in any case, they were on a tight schedule because of the comet. Katara confirmed his suspicions that the Avatar did not bother to learn firebending, which meant that the few weeks left were going to be a mad dash against the clock. It was worth the risk.

She finally nodded her approval. "Fine. We'll try," then she added after a beat. "Take off your shirt."

"I'm sorry?" he looked at her in confusion. _She wanted what? _He wrapped his arms around himself defensively.

"I'll heal you," she explained impatiently.

"Oh, it's not a big deal," Zuko shrugged.

"That's for me to decide, since I'm the healer," she narrowed her eyes threateningly. She looked more like a dangerous fighter than a healer.

Zuko reminded himself that good people didn't argue needlessly, so he took off his silk tunic, feeling self-conscious under her scrutiny. She motioned him to lie down on his stomach. He did as was told and rested his chin on his arms, feeling strangely exposed and vulnerable. Despite the balmy weather, his skin was covered with goose-bumps.

She placed her hand on his back; it felt cool and soothing. Something hot coiled inside Zuko at her touch. It felt like he was going to combust. He had no idea if she could feel him the way he could feel her. The notion was mortifying. Good people probably didn't get this worked up from a simple touch, like some perv. Well, the only good person he knew was Uncle, but maybe he wasn't the best role-model when it came to not acting like a lecher. Zuko tried desperately to control the heat, fighting it back, but the coolness emanating from her already gripped onto his chi, linking them together, like two viper-lizards wrapped together in a fight or act of love. It was very difficult to tell the difference with viper-lizards.

"Stop doing that," she scolded him.

"I'm not doing anything," he gritted his teeth.

"You are trying to block me. It just makes this harder for both of us. Breathe and relax," she sounded all business-like.

_Easier said than done _. Zuko let out a long, controlled breath and let her healing go deeper inside him, soothing, calming, washing over him. The fine hairs on his body all stood up as their chis bonded, curling around each other, like a gold and blue threads, radiating with tension, but also with relief, making him want to laugh and cry simultaneously. He wanted it to stop, but also stay in the moment forever. It was unsettling.

"That's enough for now," she pulled back her hand and he mourned the sudden loss of contact.

Zuko sat up, craning his neck to see no trace of the black and blue bruises.

"Thank you, Katara." His voice came out like a whisper.

"I'm only trying to increase our chances of survival," she shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. But her cheeks were clearly flushed showing that she was not as unaffected as she pretended to be.

Zuko turned away, trying hard not to notice like a good person would how that blush kept crawling down her neckline, toward the V-shaped opening of her tunic.

Their alliance was that of necessity, he reminded himself. He had to keep his objectivity.


	2. Chapter 2

This was unbearable. Their raft was tiny, and once they managed to tie their belongings on it, there was not much space left for them. They had to sit side by side, their hips and legs touching, which made her hyper-aware of the heat emanating from Zuko and how pleasant it felt. She wanted instinctively to snuggle closer to him. Strictly because of the cold ocean breeze. So she did the only logical thing she could think of; she pulled away as far as she could. Which was definitely not far enough.

He seemed rather awkward, incessantly fiddling with their pitiful sail. Katara channelled her nervousness into waterbending to boost the speed of their little raft. Neither of them spoke much, trying to ignore how close they were to each other, how she could feel his muscles through the thin material of his pants or how his silky strands tickled her skin when he shifted his position. There was an obvious maleness to him that was really distracting.

"How much longer do you think?" Katara couldn't bear anymore the uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sure not much longer," he said, staring desperately towards the hazy horizon with his spy-glass, looking for land.

"The sea is tranquil at least," she remarked.

"Yep. Smooth," he agreed with a nod.

Gah. He was terrible. He was not only an insufferable jerk, he was the worst at conversations ever.

Katara racked her brain for another conversation-starter. "Where did you learn sailing?"

"My family had a summer house on Ember Island. My cousin used to take me," he replied and the expression on his face made it seem like it was a bitter-sweet memory.

"You know, in my tribe, we go out ice-dodging to prove that we are old enough to be warriors of the tribe," Katara noted, conveniently leaving out the fact that only boys were taken. She didn't want him to think that the Water Tribe was backwards. And while the Fire Nation was clearly full of evil, no-good, terrible people, she couldn't help noticing with just a hint of envy how girls got to do exactly the same things as boys. "You have to do it on fast water and find your way around the icebergs."

He shuddered slightly. "Sounds very cold. Have you ever been ice-dodging?"

"Yeah," she smiled proudly, but then her mood darkened again. "You remember, just before when you kidnapped us with the ugly mole?" He had a way of ruining all her fun memories.

He bit his lips again. "Oh, sorry about that. It was a shirshu."

The correction made Katara even more annoyed. She wasn't here to argue zoology. "Whatever. I didn't appreciate it."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled again lowering his eyes.

His constant contrition was grating on her. It was so much easier to hate him when he was a yelling jerk with a ridiculous ponytail. A part of her wished he would be like that again.

"Stop saying sorry," she snapped.

"Sorry. I mean…" he frowned. "What do you want me to say?"

If only she knew. He irritated her with his silence and his words, with his presence and his absence. He was the absolute worst.

"Why are you here?" she turned to him. It made no sense. Well, other than the obvious issue of the ruined balloon. His transformationwas just a bit too unbelievable.

"I told you. I wanted to help the Avatar," Zuko repeated calmly.

"Why now? Your father didn't give you your honour back?" Katara asked sharply.

His face twitched at the mention of "honour" and his hands curled into fists. Katara narrowed her eyes - maybe the angry jerk wasn't so far under the surface.

"No. I realize now that nobody can give you your honor. You have to earn it for yourself. Which is what I'm trying to do. I want to do my part in stopping this war, because it's wrong," he explained, sounding earnest.

Katara quickly reminded herself that he had betrayed her before.

"And it took you this long to realize this?"

"I don't expect you to understand," he sighed.

"Oh, because I'm just a stupid water tribe peasant?" Katara yelled now.

"That's not what I said." He turned away and stared into the setting sun, the last rays of it painting an orange path on the water. Their path to the Western Air Temple.

He broke the frozen silence finally. "Get some sleep. I'll take first watch," he sounded defeated.

Katara fumed. How did he dare pretend that he was in charge here. "I'm not taking orders from you. I'll take first watch."

"Fine. As you wish." He laid down and closed his eyes. After a few minutes his even breaths showed that he was fast asleep.

Katara watched the stars. The soothing glow of the moon tempered her anger. Her back was starting to hurt and looking at the peacefully sleeping jerk, she regretted not taking him up on his offer on the subject of first watch. She laid down too, her head so close to his that she could feel his breath tickling her neck. The night was cold and she shivered, scooting closer to his warmth, listening to the sounds of the waves against the raft, to the eerie quiet of the night ocean. She was exhausted. Maybe it was all right to close her eyes only for a moment, until….

….

…. Something shook the raft. They both jolted awake, their heads knocking together.

"What the…?" he yelped indignantly.

Katara was mortified to see that she ended up wrapped around him, resting her head against his chest and with her knee nestled between his thighs. There was no time for embarrassment though, because the raft shook again. They both jumped to their feet. A huge arm with suckers, the size of a large dish appeared from the foams.

"It's a giant shark-squid," Zuko yelled and blasted a fire at the tentacle, which curled and withdrew under the water.

"Don't anger it," Katara whispered. Zuko observed the water, where the arm disappeared then he picked up his spy-glass to look at the horizon.

"There is land in that direction," he pointed north-west.

Katara squinted. All she could see was hazy blue. "Are you sure it's not just the morning mist?"

He nodded. "I'm sure. Well, pretty sure. Can you give us a boost?"

Katara stood up, twisting her arms around, creating a wave that carried them towards the direction Zuko pointed at.

"You think we managed to get rid of it?" she asked hopefully.

Just as she said the words, another arm appeared, wrapping itself around Katara's ankle.

Zuko pulled out his dao swords and sliced through it, leaving the wiggling end of a tentacle on the raft. At Katara's questioning eyebrow, he shrugged. "I try not to set the raft on fire."

Right, fire on a wood structure was not the best idea. What a useless form of bending. Zuko picked up the cut-off tentacle with his sword and tossed it into the water.

The animal reared its ugly head up. It had big green eyes and horrible sharp teeth. Katara sent a big wave in its direction, but well, fighting water-monsters with water was not the most efficient way either. Great. A giant monster attack on a flimsy raft in the middle of the ocean and neither of their bending did any good.

"Keep bending us towards the shore. I'll deal with it!" Zuko said balancing himself on the raft, with his swords pulled out. He sent fire to his arms, making it look like his swords were ablaze. Katara had to admit that it looked kind of intimidating. The shark-squid must have come to the same conclusion as it backed away in fear and ducked under the water. It emerged on the other side of the raft, and this time wrapped an arm around Katara's waist, squeezing it painfully. Zuko leapt forward and hacked off that arm too, black blood spurting in every direction.

"Can you put me on an ice block?" he asked.

Katara nodded. She never actually tried to do one for anyone else, but she was pretty sure that it was feasible. "What are you planning to do?"

But Zuko was already in the air with an elegant flip. She barely had enough time to bend an iceboard under his feet as he landed, his stance firm despite the slippery surface. He had pretty good balance.

"Keep going in circles!" Zuko yelled as he shot fire blasts from all angles at the confused animal, keeping the flames away from their raft. The shark-squid roared in pain. Zuko made long firewhips as the extension of his swords and hit the beast square in the eye. It let out an ear-piercing scream and disappeared under the waves.

Katara bent a wave to get Zuko back on the raft, offering her arm to steady him.

"I think we got rid of it," he panted with exertion. "That was some impressive bending," he added, nodding towards her in acknowledgment.

The compliment seemed sincere and it filled her with pleasant warmth. In a group consisting of the Avatar and the (self-proclaimed) greatest earthbender, her feats of bending, as she developed new techniques constantly went mostly unnoticed and certainly underappreciated.

"It was the first time I've tried it," she admitted with a hesitant smile.

"You are a natural, you have come such a long way."

His admiring gaze made her feel uncomfortable, so she turned away. "We are close to the island," she pointed into the distance, where the contours of the land were clearly visible.

As she stood at the edge, trying to speed up their raft, a tentacle appeared again suddenly, dragging her under the water. She managed to bend an air-bubble around her head just before sinking. Out of other options, she formed two sharp ice-daggers and stabbed at the sea-monster's arms.

Despite her attack, the shark-squid was holding her in an iron grip, and brought her closer to its giant mouth, the sharp teeth only inches away from her face. Katara struggled against the arm, stabbing it with everything she had, but it didn't seem to make a difference. She didn't want to die. Her mind was racing. Maybe bloodbending would work - but she was under the water, away from the full moon. It wouldn't hurt trying. She raised her hand trying to focus and isolate the blood inside the animal from all the liquid around it...

Her concentration was broken when something crashed into the water next to her. It was Zuko. He stabbed one sword into the monster's mouth, while used the other to slice the arm holding Katara. She got pushed to the surface by the waves of the fight, and all she could see was a maelstrom of the bubbles disappeared, the water went still and she found herself floating alone.

The idiot. She didn't need saving. Where was he?

Katara bent another air-bubble around herself and ducked underwater until she found the sinking corpse of the shark-squid, with a dagger sticking out of its heart. The firebender's limp body was held in one of its two remaining arms. Katara pulled out the pearl dagger and hacked Zuko out of the monster's hold. Holding onto his tunic, she swam towards the surface, just before her air ran out.

She struggled to keep both of them afloat. Relying on all her remaining strength, she propelled themselves onto the beach, dragging him into the sand.

Kneeling next to the boy's lifeless body, she searched frantically for signs of life. He didn't get to quit like this. She pulled the water out his lungs using her bending, but he remained still, and had no heartbeat.

"Wake up, Zuko," she shouted at him in desperation, her eyes filling with angry tears.

She didn't want to lose him. He was an idiot and annoying, but they got into this mess together and they would get out of it the technique Gran-Gran taught her, she pressed down on his chest and breathed air into his mouth. Again. And again. Nothing.

No. No. He couldn't die on her.

"I refuse to let you die," she yelled and hit his chest hard. His body jerked under the impact. Some more water trickled down the corner of his mouth and then he started coughing and retching. Katara let out a relieved sigh.

-0-

* * *

He couldn't stop heaving, his mouth tasted like salt and blood. A calming touch on his back helped him to breathe again.

"You almost died, you idiot," Katara laughed through her tears; her face relieved. Was it strange that after almost dying his first thought was that she had such a radiant smile?

"I'm sorry," he tried to form the words, but no sound came out. She probably would have scolded him again for apologising anyway.

"Well, we made it to the next island," Katara noted with relief.

She steadied him as he tried to sit up, taking in their surroundings. The sand was white, and behind the rocks, palm trees swayed in the breeze. Definitely looked like an upgrade compared to the previous desolate rock. It was worth the bumpy ride.

"At least there are trees. Probably, even fresh water," Zuko rasped hopefully. Talking really hurt. They could use the rest of the balloon material to make a better raft. Looking around himself, he frowned. "Where is our gear?"

"Well, I kind of had to make the call between saving you or the stuff," Katara seemed kind of vexed about his comment.

Right. Good people tried to be grateful for what they had and look at the silver sandwich behind the clouds, Iroh used to say. Or something close enough.

"Thank you for saving me," Zuko said to her. As much as she seemed to hate his guts, she still dragged him out of the ocean. That was something. Pointing to her hand, he added cheerfully. "At least we have my dagger."

"What's so important about the stupid dagger?" Katara handed him the weapon.

"Well, it's our only tool. Also, my uncle gave it to me, when I was a young boy," Zuko replied, pulling his finger lovingly along the blade, the inscription that had become the motto of his life. He would never ever give up without a fight.

"How is he?" Katara asked quietly.

Of course, she would think of Iroh fondly, after he selflessly saved her and the Avatar in Ba Sing Se. Saved them from Zuko. The prince felt simultaneously proud of his uncle for doing the right thing and deeply ashamed that he didn't stand with him, like he was supposed to. Staring at each other, realizing that they had ended up on opposing sides of the battle line was one of the worst moments of his life. And his life had plenty of terrible moments. Katara's question reminded him how they had left things, with Iroh barely speaking to him. He missed his quiet advice, his hearty laughs, even the maddening proverbs and his stupid tea. Uncle had been his home for so long, but he had never appreciated it until it was too late.

"I don't know. He hates me probably. He was more like a father to me and I really let him down," he hung his head in shame.

To his surprise, instead of a sharp comment, her blue eyes looked at him with sympathy.

"I'm sure he'd be proud of you," she said with an encouraging smile. "Trying to do the right thing. It must have been difficult walking away from your home."

"Not really. It didn't feel like a home anymore."

It was true. Nothing was like he had imagined it would be. He was surrounded by strangers he couldn't trust, his father and sister kept playing mind-games, excluding him from everything. Even dating Mai kept him on the edge; he never knew where they stood. Breaking up with her and walking out of the palace was hard, but also strangely liberating.

Not wanting any more questions, Zuko struggled to his feet. "Well, we should look around and see where we landed," he suggested, heading for the highest point of elevation, which was a volcano, unsurprisingly.

Walking around for a few hours, they managed to discover most of the island. It had a freshwater stream, bushes with wild star-berries, coconut trees, and the jackpot: a hot-spring.

Katara made a cute squealing noise in delight and stripped down to her white bindings totally oblivious to Zuko's gaping, submerging herself in the hot water with a contented sigh. Zuko had no idea what exactly he was supposed to do, so he stood awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. The water looked delightful, but good people probably wouldn't just jump in without an invitation.

Katara finally noticed his discomfort and called out to him. "I think you could use a bath too - it's plenty big for the two of us." Then she added with a wicked smile. "Unless you are too scared to get in a hot spring with a waterbender."

The challenge was clear and loud; honor required that he accept. Stripping to his underwear, Zuko climbed into the steaming water, staying at a respectful distance from her. They soaked away the salt, the grime, the muscle pain. Zuko tried not to stare at the water drops on Katara's smooth dark skin, or the curve of her breasts under her white bindings, or the way her wet, wavy hair fell to her hips like a dark waterfall. She was mesmerizing. She turned back and caught him staring. Zuko turned away quickly in embarrassment. Good people didn't stare. It was rude.

Using her bending, she washed both their dirty clothes, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It was an oddly familial gesture that Zuko found both mortifying and strangely soothing. He muttered a quiet thank you, as he pulled the tunic over his head.

After the bath, they walked back to the little sheltered cove by the beach that had a small cave, perfect shelter for the night. Zuko was secretly relieved that there was no talk of dividing lines anymore. They reached a comfortable truce.

Task division came naturally. Katara strode into the water to catch fish, while he made a fire and collected palm leaves to build beds. He also climbed a tree to pick coconuts.

As they ate their dinner of roast fish, star-berries and coconut juice, sitting by the fire just outside the little cave, it felt cozy, almost like a home.

"How did you learn climbing coconut trees? Did your cousin teach you?" she asked with a teasing smile.

"As a matter of fact, he did," Zuko replied, feeling subdued. Lu Ten's death left a hole inside him that never really healed.

"What happened to him?" Katara immediately picked up on the change of his mood and her bright eyes shone with concern.

"He died in the war," Zuko said truthfully but not elaborating on the details. He wasn't sure if she realized that his uncle had personally laid siege to Ba Sing Se. Maybe it was better to keep it that way.

"I'm sorry," she put her hand on his. It was an instinctive, simple gesture of comfort; it still made a lump form in his throat.

"It was a long time ago," he said quietly.

"That doesn't make it hurt less," Katara fiddled with her necklace. Her mother's necklace . Zuko wanted to ask her what happened. He wanted to tell her that he understood. But the calm between them was tentative, and talking usually made things worse. Doing was safer. Action had always come easier to him than of words.

"No, it doesn't," he settled finally for agreeing with her.

They sat in silence, staring into the fire that took away so much from both of them, yet it also gave them comfort and light on a chilly night.

"So how do we do the rest of the island hopping?" she broke the silence finally.

Zuko felt relief from her question. Looking into the future was safer territory than talking about the minefield of the past.

"I've been thinking. In the North Pole I used these canoes to get around. I remember my uncle explaining that people made them burning the inside of the wood. We should be able to do that, right?" Zuko asked, hoping that the mention of the North Pole would not disturb the fragile truce they reached.

"I've seen old Bakko do it. It didn't look too hard," she nodded in agreement. Zuko felt a hint of disappointment. He had counted on her having a bit more hands-on experience, being from the Water Tribe herself. Still, good people tried to look into the future with optimism.

"Then, I'm sure we will figure it out together," he tried to imbue his voice with more confidence than he felt, considering their first shipbuilding attempt was not exactly a resounding success. "We made a pretty good team out there today."

To his surprise, she did not argue, but smiled back instead. "Yes, we did."

"You want me to take first watch?" Zuko offered.

"No, you need to sleep. You almost died today," she replied on her strict healer voice. "By the way, thanks for coming after me today."

"What else was I going to do?" Zuko shrugged. It would have been inconceivable to leave her behind. "Are you sure you don't want me to…"

"I said no, Zuko," she interrupted him impatiently. "Anyways, it's full moon tonight. I feel like working off the edge."

"Have fun splashing then," he said with an exaggerated shrug and laid down on his palm-leaf bed, pretending to sleep. When he heard her soft footsteps recede, he got up and hid by the entrance of the cave, watching as she moved the waves with ease in the soft moonlight. Good people probably didn't sneak around, staring at others like creeps, but then again Uncle said he studied waterbenders, and he was a good person, so maybe this was alright. As long as it was strictly for educational purposes.

-0-

* * *

Canoe-making turned out to be much trickier than it looked when she had watched old Bakku do it back in their village all those years ago. It took them most of the morning to fell a tree. Their method was simple. Zuko was using a thin fireblade to cut it bit by bit, while Katara used her iceblade on the other side, in a kind of elemental see-saw.

It was tediously slow work, but a good opportunity to learn more things about Zuko. Not that she was curious, but Sokka would have expected her to gather intel on their enemy. Well, it had become extremely difficult to think of Zuko as the enemy. He wasn't really a friend yet, not like Aang or Sokka, or even Toph. But Katara trusted him now - he did earn that - even if he still unnerved her in ways that were new and strange.

New pieces of information, gained from his terse and short answers included the following random facts:

he loved mangos, his mother was a huge theater-fan and Zuko knew a lot of stories, but was a hopeless story-teller, forgetting crucial plot points, he played the tsungi horn as a kid, he studied his sword-mastery with Piandao (Katara was sure that Sokka would find this particular piece of information very interesting), he learnt his ninja-skills sneaking around the palace and hiding from his sister who did sound like a terrible person even by Fire Nation standards.

After they felled the tree, they continued the canoe-building by burning a hole into it. The result was a shapeless abomination. When they tried it on the water, it quickly tipped out of balance and filled up with water. They had no other choice than to abandon it and swim to the shore. A whole day's work was wasted, and they still had no idea how to get off this island and join the others. But Katara gathered another piece of information: Zuko was an excellent swimmer; she even had to use her bending to beat him to the beach.

Katara watched mournfully the ocean. For the first time in her life, the water seemed less like an ally and more like an adversary, separating her from her brother and her friends. The comet was coming, Aang needed her, and here she was playing castaway on an island-paradise with a former enemy with no ship-building skills.

"We'll make it," Zuko's voice came from behind her. It was unclear whether he tried to comfort himself or her.

"How do you know?"

"I refuse to fail," he said grimly. "And I think you are the same. You are the most stubborn person I know, Katara. The ocean is no match for us."

Gah. He was not only useless at making canoes, he was also no good at pep-talks. Even if she was stubborn, which she most definitely was not, it still did not provide them with a feasible way to get off this stupid island. The comet would come and go, and they would grow old here, still trying to figure out how they could make a sea-worthy canoe. It was a grim prospect.

"It's late," she grimaced.

Exhausted from the day's work, she fell onto her soft palm-bed, not bothering to argue about first watch. She drifted off immediately.


	3. Chapter 3

The water shone with the moon and stars, reflecting their flickering light like a giant mirror. Zuko shivered in the cool wind. It was time to wake Katara, but finally she seemed to be sleeping peacefully and he didn't want to disturb her dream or risk again pissing her off.

Their campfire was only embers, so he went to look for more firewood. As he reached the end of the cove, he noticed a light in the distance that didn't look like starlight. It was brighter, and it was moving. Zuko stood motionless, watching, listening, until he could hear the fragments of boisterous laughter carried by the water. It was definitely a ship, and it seemed like it was heading towards their island. He was about to draw their attention with a large bonfire, but then stopped himself. Uncle always scolded him for not thinking things through. Given that he was a traitor prince now, probably with a considerable reward on his head, it was too risky, not just for him, but also Katara to attract the wrong kind of attention. He had to gather more information about the mystery ship, so he crept closer, silent like a shadow.

It was not a Fire Nation navy ship - Zuko had spent enough time on one to be able to recognize them from their silhouettes, the noise the waves made as they crashed against the metal hull and even the humming of their engines. It was the background music of the last three years of his life. From the hollow squeaks of this ship, it sounded like it was made of wood, yet the black mass appeared to be much bigger than a fishing boat. That left only few options, none of them too promising.

As the moon appeared from behind the clouds, it cast its light on the flag. Pirates! Zuko inhaled sharply and started running back to their cave - this was their chance.

-0-

Katara jolted awake in terror as a hand covered her mouth. She instinctively struggled against it.

"Katara, wake up! Don't freak out," a smoky, scratchy voice that had become so familiar in the last few days whispered reassuringly. Katara nodded slightly that she understood. Zuko pulled back his hand.

"What do you think you are doing?" she whispered back angrily.

Instead of replying, he waved her to follow. They snuck down towards the beach.

"Look!" Zuko pointed towards the sea.

Katara saw a dark shadow. "What is it?"

"Pirates," he said on a low voice. "We take their ship."

"Oh, stealing from the pirates - I like that," Katara smiled with excitement. This was their best chance to get out of here and find the others. The spirits sent them a gift to take.

They watched the ship moor and some of the pirates coming to shore on a small boat. Whether they came to hide treasures or refill the water tanks, it didn't matter much. On Zuko's signal, Katara bent an iceboard and with a powerful wave, they landed on the deck. Zuko hit one of the sentries in the head. The man went down silently, and Zuko caught the twin blades falling out of his hands with owlcat-like reflexes before they could hit the deck with a clang. He wrapped his hands around the hilts with obvious satisfaction, like someone meeting long-lost friends. Katara raised a powerful wave, washing the helmsman and two other crew-members into the ocean.

So far, so good.

Now they just had to go under the deck, find the rest of the pirates while the element of surprise was on their side. Katara followed Zuko towards the hatch. Suddenly, there was a sharp cry.

"Attack!" They looked back noticing an iguana-parrot perched on the helm. So much for the element of surprise, Katara thought with annoyance. Zuko narrowed his eyes and sent a fireblast in the direction of the pesky bird. It flapped its wings and flew into the darkness.

The remaining crew, alerted by the screech, came running up to the deck, weapons in hand.

"I can't use fire, we'll burn the ship," Zuko gave Katara an alarmed look and spun around with his swords, blocking the attacks of the pirates. They completely surrounded the prince, who parried their swords, leaping and turning gracefully in the middle of the ring. It looked like an elaborate dance. As entertaining as it was to watch his nimble movements, it was not exactly the most efficient way to deal with the situation. But how was Katara supposed to bend around him when he threw himself in the middle of the fight like that?

She summoned another huge wave. "Duck!" she yelled. Zuko turned, and seeing her bending stance, figured out her plan immediately. At least all that fighting against each other made it so they understood each other without words. Stabbing his knife into the wood plank, he threw himself flat on on the deck, holding on while the water rushed over him, sweeping the ship clean of the attackers.

Katara ran to his side. He was soaked and looked kind of adorable as the water from his spiky hair dripped down his face. He muttered somewhat petulantly, "Hey - I was handling them."

"You're welcome. I just wanted to save you from the pirates," she said with a smug grin, surprised that the bitterness was mostly gone, she could almost joke about the memory now. "After all, I was owing you one."

He bit his lips and looked away in shame, "I was really such a jerk."

"Yes, you were," Katara agreed readily. She reached out her hand to help him up and added with a smile. "But you are not so bad now."

"I'm not?" Zuko asked hopefully, his hand wrapping around hers. Even soaked as he was with the cold water, his touch was radiating heat.

"Actually, you are pretty decent," Katara squeezed his hand. He inhaled sharply and his eyes turned liquid gold, hot and molten. Katara felt like she was drowning in their warmth. It was difficult to see it clearly in the dark, but a blush seemed to darken his good cheek. Katara didn't need a mirror to know that her own face was getting hot too.

She broke contact, wet her lips and said in her best pirate-imitation. "Now let's hoist the sail, matey, and get out of here."

"Aye-aye, Captain," Zuko gave her a mock salute with a relieved grin.

Their moment of lack of concentration cost them dearly, because suddenly they found themselves encased in ice to the neck, unable to move. Katara glared at the two pirates who appeared on the deck. One of them had to be a waterbender. She struggled against the ice, but with her arms restrained, she was unable to bend.

"Look, Cheng, what a pretty pair of lovebirds we caught!" the pirate in a large-brimmed hat grinned at his short, stocky mate. He stepped closer to Zuko, taunting him. "I'll bet your girlfriend will catch a high price with gentlemen of refined tastes."

Zuko's eyes narrowed with anger. "She's not my girlfriend," he growled at the pirate. Katara felt a flicker of annoyance. Not that she wanted to be his girlfriend - but really would it be such a repugnant thought?

"Well, you two sure looked close," Cheng replied mockingly.

"Bring the viper-lizard. That will stop them from causing anymore trouble.

Katara didn't know much about viper-lizards, but it did not sound promising.

"Aye, Captain Sao," replied Cheng with an evil grin, disappearing under the deck.

Sao stayed alone with Katara and Zuko. "You two picked on the wrong pirate captain to steal from. I'm the king of the seas and I will teach you respect."

There was a sharp gasp and Zuko's golden eyes started to sparkle with pure rage, as if the power of a volcano were unleashed within him. It should have looked scary, but Katara knew that he was perfectly in control. After all, even back when they were constantly fighting, when he was an angry jerk with a hideous ponytail, he never burnt any of them, no matter how enraged he seemed.

He glanced over at Katara. "Ready?" he whispered, his breath burning hot against her ears. Katara nodded slightly. Zuko inhaled deeply and let out a long controlled breath, flames blooming at his lips, steam coming out of his nostrils, melting the ice around them with precision. His lips curled into a slight smirk. Now that he didn't use this technique against her, it looked ridiculously attractive and distracting, but Katara had no time for such self-indulgent thoughts. Before Sao realized what was happening, she got her arms free sending all the melted water at the pirate captain, trapping him in ice.

Cheng returned on the deck, but before he could do anything, Katara washed both him and the frozen captain, big hats and viper-lizards included off the deck with a powerful wave.

Katara couldn't help but smile widely at Zuko, who grinned back. They made an excellent team indeed and they finally had a proper ship. The wind filled their sail taking them back to the others. Katara couldn't wait to see their faces when she told them about this particular adventure.

-0-

The pirates kept a sloppy log, Zuko studied the maps and navigation charts trying to figure out exactly where they were and plot their best course towards the Western Air Temple. It was a painstaking process. Katara had watched him frown and mumble for a while, but eventually got bored of it and went in search for food, leaving Zuko alone with the maps. If his calculations were right, they were about a day and a half away from the temple. It was a good thing that amid all his sulking and grumping, he still had paid attention to poor Lieutenant Jee who did his best to teach him the ropes.

The door opened and closed. "Oh, good you're here," Zuko said without looking up. "I think I know now where we are."

"I'll raise you. I found the pantry of the ship," Katara placed a plate full of cold, salted meat and fruit in front of him. She also brought a cup. Zuko's stomach growled at the sight, reminding him how hungry he was.

"It's called a galley," Zuko corrected her instinctively, taking a bite of the meat. If they were going to sail together, it was important to use the correct terminology. He could show her all the ins and outs of the ship, after all that was something he was good at. They could start with...the thought immediately flew out of his head when he raised his gaze to look at her. He stopped chewing and breathing altogether.

She was wearing a low-cut red dress, made of sheer silk that enveloped her just in the right places, and revealing her smooth, dusky skin. Jewel-studded pins sparkled in her hair. She also wore a gold armband and several rings. The sight reminded him of the girls who used to appear in his feverish adolescent dreams that sometimes ended with setting his bed on fire.

"Is my dress pretty?" She twirled around playfully. "It's a well-equipped pirate ship."

"I can see that," Zuko managed to get the words out. It was strange. Something was definitely odd about her.

She wet her lips. "That's because you have pretty eyes, Zuko. Gold like the sun. I like the sun."

Zuko blushed. And frowned. And gaped. Katara smiled at him. Katara was dressed in a twirly dress. Katara thought he had pretty eyes. There was definitely something off about her. His throat felt dry like sandpaper, so he reached out for his cup. As soon as he wet his lips, he realized what was happening. The liquid in the cup was sticky sweet palm-wine.

Zuko still remembered that long-ago night on his ship when his crew got him drinking the stuff. The night ended up with him playing sappy love-songs on the tsungi horn and doing backflips to the clapping of the sailors, as well as signing an irrevocable order of instituting monthly music nights. He also vividly remembered the vicious hangover and the embarrassment the following day.

"How much of this stuff did you drink, Katara?" he asked suspiciously.

"Three or four cups. Ship-stealing is thirsty work. It's nice and sweet."

Yep, it all certainly made sense now. Her flushed cheeks, her dangerously glimmering eyes, the reckless flirting, the dress. His gaze wandered towards the revealing cleavage of the dress, but he reminded himself that good people did not stare at very drunk and very pretty girls. Actually, he was not sure if there was such a rule on goodness. In any case, his mother taught him that being royalty started with manners. He was still a prince. Or an ex-prince, at least.

"It's palm-wine," Zuko clarified. "And it will get you very drunk if you are not careful."

"We, warriors of the Southern Water Tribe can hold our drink and even your drink if you don't want it," Katara took Zuko's cup. She downed it in one long gulp before Zuko could do anything about it and twirled around in her dress some more. "Stealing a pirate ship is really good fun. And that flame thing you do with your mouth is really hot. Because it's fire, so it's hot. But also hot-hot. You have to show me how to do that, Zuko." She leaned close to him, her lips dangerously close to his, smelling of sticky palm-wine.

Zuko's head was spinning. What was he supposed to do with a very drunk Katara who was bombarding him with embarrassing confessions? She would definitely hate him once she sobered up.

"I'm not sure it works with waterbending" he said taking a step back, desperately trying to put distance between them.

"You are no good," she pouted. Wait. Did she just bat her eyelashes at him?

"I think it's time to go to bed, Katara." He scooped her up in his arms.

"But I'm not sleepy," she protested. Still, she rested her head against his shoulder, her hair tickling his neck. She smelled of palm wine and ocean breeze; a heady combination.

Zuko carried her inside the captain's cabin and placed her on the bed as carefully as he could.

"Sleep now. I'll take first watch," he said as he tucked her in, pulling a light cover over her.

"I told you, I'm not taking orders from you." She poked her tongue at him.

"Be my guest then," Zuko gestured towards the door.

Katara tried to sit up, but predictably fell back on the bed in a graceless heap. "Why don't you take the first watch?" she slurred.

"Aye, Captain," Zuko replied mockingly, but she was already out cold.

He closed the door and stepped onto the deck. The breeze felt pleasantly cool against his body that was about to spontaneously combust. And it wasn't just the first rays of the morning sun humming through his veins and making his heart leap in wild summersaults.

-0-

Katara groaned as she woke up to a pounding headache. She looked around in the unfamiliar cabin, filled with extravagant trinkets and the memories started to come back. They were on the pirate ship they stole. That was good .

Than her gaze fell on the red silk dress she was wearing. Oh, that was bad. So making a total fool out of herself was not a dream after all. She would never look Zuko in the eye again. Wait! Did she really tell him that he had pretty eyes? She was mortified. Humiliated. She could never ever face him again. Except they were on a ship and she had no choice.

Her blue outfit was neatly folded next to the bed, and a pitcher filled with water was next to the wash-basin, no doubt courtesy of the firebender. He was really thoughtful sometimes. Katara pulled on her regular clothes, brushed her hair with a jewel-studded gold comb, splashed her face with cold water and emerged from the cabin ready to face her doom.

She found him at the front of the ship, waving his hands around like he was talking to someone, even though there appeared to be nobody there. Katara snuck closer to listen. His voice was nervous and he kept fidgeting as he spoke.

"Hello, Zuko here. But I guess you kind of know me. You know from before? When I was attacking you. I'm sorry about that by the way. But anyways, I'm good now. And I think it's time I joined your group and taught the Avatar firebending."

Katara couldn't help but snort. He was so awkward and that was the worst speech ever, including the one Sokka gave high on cactus juice. Zuko turned around startled and scowled at her.

"Are you talking to a sea-raven?" Katara pointed at the bird.

Zuko shook his head. "Me? No. No. Not at all. That's not what I'm doing." He was also terrible at lying.

"I heard you," Katara arched her eyebrows, determined to keep the conversation focused on his awkward bird-monologue, rather than on her drunken behaviour.

Zuko conceded, letting out a frustrated breath. "Well, fine. What if I can't convince them that I'm good now?" He looked desperate like a lost polar-puppy.

"Zuko…" Katara smiled and stepped closer, stopping herself from ruffling his silky hair. He probably wouldn't have liked that. "They are good people. I saw that you changed - they'll see it too. Just give it time."

"You think?" He asked hopefully.

Katara shrugged. "Well, Toph can be rude sometimes and she might sink you into the ground. And Sokka will probably try to hit you with boomerang." Zuko did not seem to find the prospect of being buried alive or getting whacked with a boomerang reassuring, if the alarm on his face was anything to go by. "But Aang is forgiving. Usually," she added with an evil smile.

"Oh." Zuko looked a bit scared.

"Maybe don't start with Hello Zuko here!" Katara advised magnanimously.

"What should I start with?" He frowned with concern.

"Something positive."

"Like what?" Zuko chewed his lips, his features still frozen in a scowl.

"Well, you must have done some good things, right?" she arched her eyebrows questioningly. Zuko scratched his head at length.

"I did free the Avatar's bison in Ba Sing Se. I guess that counts," it was almost a question.

"Wait, it was you who freed Appa that day? Why haven't you told me?" Katara asked surprised. They often wondered how Appa got free, but they never in their dreams suspected Zuko. That would definitely go a long way with Aang, but Zuko clearly had no idea of Appa's status in the group.

"You haven't asked."

"Why did you do it?" Katara felt confused. He was bad back then - why would he do such a decent thing?

Zuko scratched his head. "I wanted to steal it, really. But Uncle asked me to do the right thing. He was so happy to get his own teashop and I wanted him to be happy too. I thought I could try to be just that - what he wanted me to be."

He must have been really nervous, because this was the most information that he had volunteered about himself, about the way he felt since Katara had known him.

"You would have really stayed working in a tea-shop to please your uncle?" It was hard to believe that the honour-obsessed jerk would voluntarily choose a life of hard work. And just to please his uncle. That was actually rather sweet. The picture of him serving tea in an apron surfaced again. At the time, she thought it was an elaborate trap.

He stared into the distance. "I thought I hated it at the time, but I realize now that it was more of a home than I've ever had, after my mother disappeared."

Something tugged at Katara's heart, imagining Zuko and his uncle for once having a chance at a normal life. She was the one who took that away from them, she realized and the thought made her sad. She bit her lips.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked with worry in his voice.

"Just my head," she moaned. It was not a total lie, more like an evasion - she still had a blinding headache from the cursed palm-wine.

Zuko suppressed a grin and restrained from commenting on her drunken shenanigans, for which Katara was grateful. "Come, I'll make you poached eggs. My crew swore that it was the best cure for hangover."

Katara's stomach was revolting at the thought of food, but she followed Zuko to the galley. He made her sit at the table, while he moved around the kitchen whipping up the egg and brewing tea. His movements were graceful and precise. He put the plate in front of her - it actually smelled really good - and returned with two cups and a tea-pot. He knelt by the table and poured her some tea, like the practiced tea-server he was. There was something attractive about a guy who knew his way around the kitchen.

"Uncle swears by ginseng," he smiled ruefully as always whenever the topic came to Iroh. It was apparent how much he loved and respected the old man.

Katara took a sip of the hot drink. It was delicious and soothing.

"You have surprising depths, Zuko," she told him appreciatively.

"Try the egg before it gets cold," he pointed at the plate.

Katara took a careful bite. Nmmm… It was pretty good. A bit salty, just the way she liked it. The memory washed over her unbidden, and the salt tasted suddenly like uncried tears.

"Is it that bad?" Zuko looked at her worried, sensing the shift in her mood.

Katara shook her head. "No. It is delicious. It just reminds me of the puffin eggs my mother used to make. She poached them just like this. The last time I had it was the day we lost her." She touched her necklace.

Zuko's eyes shone with concern. "What happened?"

It was a conversation they started in Ba Sing Se, but never got to finish, before they got interrupted. Katara took a deep breath - maybe it was time to finish it. "It started with the black snow…" She told him everything. How terrified she was when the soldiers showed up, the confusion of the fighting, her mother's last words.

Zuko listened silently, his body rigid with tension.

"She died to protect me," she never told this last part to Sokka or their father. She knew that they wouldn't blame her, but she didn't want it to become a shadow between them. Instead, she tried hard to step up and fill the hole her mother left behind.

It was good to finally tell it to someone, having carried this secret alone for too long. Why that someone had to be a firebender who was her enemy barely three days ago? She had no idea . The streams and rivers of the souls sometimes connected people in unexpected ways, Gran-Gran used to say.

"She was a brave woman," his voice was warm and scratchy.

"I know," she replied quietly, fingering again the smooth pendant of her choker. "And she's gone because of me. Do you know how that feels?"

"I do," To her surprise, he simply nodded. It's something we have in common , he told her in Ba Sing Se. Maybe it was more true than she ever imagined. "Before my mother disappeared, she had told me that she was trying to protect me. I haven't seen her since, I don't know what happened to her. But I do know one thing; it wasn't your fault, Katara. It was a choice she made, because that's what mothers do."

"Then why do I feel this way?" Her voice was bitter.

Zuko paused for a moment before speaking. "I don't know. But if you want, I'll help you find the man who did this to her."

Katara looked at him surprised. "Would you really do that?"

"I promise," he nodded solemnly. "That is if the Avatar doesn't kick my butt out of the Western Air Temple tomorrow," he added in half-hearted jest, but Katara heard the worry and desperation in his voice.

"It'll be fine, Zuko. Aang would never hurt anyone." Katara shook her head. "Not even his worst enemy."

"That's technically me," Zuko grimaced. He did have a point there.

Katara continued. "And you are truly sorry for what you did. They will forgive you."

"How do you know it?" he looked cautiously hopeful.

Katara stood up and he immediately leapt to his feet too.

"Because I have," she smiled and gave him a brief hug, watching the storm of emotions on his face; shock, surprise, relief. After a moment of hesitation, he put his arms around her waist. His touch was light. The moment was short, barely three heartbeats. But it was long enough to register his warmth, or the way their bodies fit together perfectly.

She stepped back and put her hand on his shoulder for a brief moment. His golden eyes locked into hers, shining like the sun - that was not a drunken hallucination - melting away the ice of bitterness, anger and hatred inside her.

As she walked away, her steps felt lighter, and her heart was beating faster.


	4. Chapter 4

Katara stepped onto the deck balancing two cups of tea, rice balls, meat and fruit on a large tray. As she suspected, Zuko was already up there, practicing his firebending forms - and spirits, he was shirtless. That was kind of distracting, even if he was doing it to soak up the sun's energy and not to show off his lean, and objectively very well-formed torso.

The move he was practicing- oblivious to the world around him - looked vaguely familiar. The fire blooming from his fists swirled like waves.

"Hey, are you stealing my moves?" Katara asked with mock indignation.

Zuko spun around, startled by the noise and lost the fire-wave. "My uncle invented some of his own moves studying waterbenders, so I thought I'd try something new," he explained a bit flustered.

"And does it work?" Katara asked, eyebrows arched.

Zuko showed her the fire-wave, moving his arms in a fluid motion. The fire curved gently, but it did not seem to have the force.

"Not bad..." Katara's eyes narrowed in professional interest. She placed the tray on the floorboard and stepped closer to him. "But you shift your stance too soon, and you don't tilt your hips enough. Also your wrist is too rigid - you need to do the flick at the end - you'll get a sharper curve."

As she explained, she stepped behind him, placing her hands on his hips, turning it slightly. His skin was hot and smooth, and the muscles felt firm under her hands. The contact made her tingle inside, but she shook off the feeling. She was in full teacher-mode; it had become second nature since she's been in charge of Aang's progress. She nudged Zuko's feet to a wider stance and when she was satisfied with his form, she stepped in front of him.

"Do it with me and pay attention to the timing."

Zuko nodded. Watching her intently, he moved perfectly in time with her, their identical waves of water and fire twisting at the same time, until they collided with a hiss and turned into steam.

"Thank you, Sifu Katara," Zuko gave her a half-serious, half-smiling bow, and turned to grab his towel.

"Wait, where are you going?" Katara asked with a frown.

"I thought we are having breakfast," Zuko pointed to the tray packed with food.

"Not yet. You owe me a move," said Katara. It was only fair. If firebenders could learn from waterbenders, it had to work the other way around too.

"And which move is that?" Zuko arched his good eyebrow.

"The hot-lips one?" Katara smirked, watching Zuko gape and blush. He was so easily flustered. It felt satisfying for once to be the one doing the flustering.

"Hot lips?" Zuko exclaimed flabbergasted. "You mean the ancient art of the breath of fire?"

"Lighten up, Zuko. I'm just teasing," Katara gave him a wink.

Zuko seemed skeptical. "Why don't you pick a different one? I am pretty sure that's a firebender-only move."

Katara shook her head. She was determined. Without her arms and legs, her bending was crippled. That was the move she wanted. "Aang can airbend just with his mouth. If there is breath of wind and breath of fire, there ought to be a breath of water too."

"I think what you are thinking of is commonly referred to as a spit," Zuko said sarcastically. Katara was surprised to discover that he actually possessed a sense of humour. Now that he was more at ease with her, she was finding new layers to him every day.

"Don't get smart with me. You know exactly what I mean. I should be able to melt or freeze water with my breath," she clarified.

"Well, I guess we can try," Zuko shrugged. He sat on his heels and Katara mirrored him. "Well, so all firebending is fuelled with the breath. You sort of have to guide the breath down your chi all the way to your stomach - it's where your spark is located, then guide it back up again on the exhale. That's all there is to it really," he explained with a demonstration, pointing with his finger to the path of the chi, just above his belly-button - he had a cute innie, she noted mentally, but Sokka probably wouldn't care about that - until a small flame bloomed at his lips to Katara's fascination.

It was Katara's turn. She inhaled, trying to follow her breath down to her stomach like he showed and exhaled. Nothing happened.

She furrowed her brows. "I don't feel anything. Can I feel it on you?"

"On me?" Zuko asked confused.

"When I was healing you, I could feel your chi better. Maybe if I use water…" Katara already encircled her hands in glowing water and looked at him waiting for permission.

"We can try, I guess," he nodded with a sigh.

Katara placed her hands against Zuko's chest and suppressed a smile as he yelped at the cold contact. She felt his strong and steady heartbeat under her palm.

"Ready?"

Zuko nodded and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. Katara felt the path of his chi humming gently, all the way down to his core. When the breath reached his chakra, it felt like it went up in a blaze. A flame detached from the roaring fire and travelled up the same path. This time Katara could feel it, all the way to his lips, as he let out a small flame, careful not to burn her. He opened his eyes, his irises shining brighter somehow.

"That was amazing!" Katara exclaimed with wonder. "Let me try again."

She inhaled trying to imagine her breath following the same path down to her stomach, but after it reached her chest, she lost her connection to it. "I don't understand - I can feel it for a while, but nothing happens."

"I think waterbending is supposed to be connected to a different chakra then fire," Zuko scratched his head.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Katara asked surprised. She never really pegged him for the studious type.

"My Uncle. He liked to give lengthy explanations," Zuko gave her a lopsided grin, but his eyes were a bit sad. It was obvious how much he missed his uncle.

Katara was trying to recall Yugoda's explanations in the healing house about the paths inside the body. She was so eager to fight that she barely listened. "He's probably right. Waterbending comes from the pelvis rather than the stomach."

"So guide the breath all the way there."

Katara tried again, but the same thing happened; the elusive breath got lost on the pathway. She shook her head in frustration. "I keep losing it."

"It takes a lot of practice. Uncle had me sit on an iceberg shivering, until I could find the right path," smiled Zuko encouragingly, then he scratched his head. "Wait. If cold helped me to find the way, maybe heat can help you."

"Heat?"

"Can I?" he asked extending his palm towards her stomach that was exposed in the low-cut Fire Nation-style dress she was wearing. Katara sucked in a sharp breath at the contact. His hand was heavenly hot, just short of burning as he placed it right under her bellybutton. Katara felt the heat travel all the way to her toes and fingertips making them want to curl in pleasure. Her face felt on fire.

"Is this the right place?" he asked almost breathlessly. They were so close - she could see the fine beads of sweat moistening his forehead.

"Yes." Katara nodded, swallowing hard.

"Then try now."

She inhaled, and concentrated on her chi . She pictured it as a blue, cool stream trying to find its way in a hot desert. The breath travelled on the stream, cooling the fire in her chest, in her belly, until it got all the way to her pelvis, which felt like a deep well, bubbling with water. Then her breath travelled back the same way, leaving her lips, creating a thin film of frost on Zuko's forehead.

He looked at her in surprise and pulled his hand back. Katara mourned the loss of his touch, but felt elated at her success. She reached out to touch the frost on his skin, feeling it on her fingertips.

"I told you it would work," she smiled triumphantly.

"Fine. You win. Can we have breakfast now?" Zuko cocked his good eye-brow at her.

"Certainly, Sifu Hot-Lips," Katara giggled at him.

"Don't call me that," he growled, but his eyes were smiling.

-0-

* * *

Even in the swirling mist, Zuko recognized the peculiar rock formation that looked like a giant dragon.

"We are getting close." He hated how panicked he sounded.

"I don't see anything." Katara squinted. "How do you know? Have you been here before?"

"Yes. When I first started to search for the Avatar," Zuko replied, lost in the memory, touching his scar instinctively. It felt like a lifetime ago, when he first sailed this stretch of water trying desperately to keep it together. One foot in front of the other.

"When was that?" Katara asked curiously.

"Three years ago." Three tumultuous years. He had been through so much, though now he understood that without all that hardship, he might have turned out just another evil, spoilt, power-hungry prince. A monster like his father.

She frowned. "You were sent to chase the Avatar when you were 13? Why?"

Zuko licked his lips, realizing his mistake. He shouldn't have brought it up.

"It was a punishment…" he said evasively, hoping that Katara would let it drop. It was still a raw and painful memory, one he never shared with anyone. He certainly didn't want Katara to know about that.

As if . It wasn't like Katara to let anything go. "I don't understand… Weren't you the prince? Wasn't your father the Fire Lord?" she asked. Zuko just nodded in affirmation and her face turned to shock with the realization. "Your father sent you to search for the Avatar when you were just a kid? That's messed up."

"Yep." Zuko said, his voice flat. The worst thing was that back then he didn't even realize how messed up that whole thing was.

"But why?"

Agni , she was relentless. "Look, it's not a very interesting story," he deflected, and fiddled needlessly with the rope of their sail.

Katara stepped in front of him. "We are alone on a boat with nothing to do for another few hours," she said. "Unless you don't trust me," she added looking at Zuko questioningly.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He did, with his life. "It's not that. It's just I've never told it to anyone. It's not something I'm proud of."

"Zuko, trust is more than just fighting together, it's letting other people know you. The real you. It's how it works in our group."

Zuko sighed. He felt cornered. There were parts of him that he wanted to forget. He had a feeling she would not be too impressed with the real him , whatever that meant. He wanted to yell at her to leave him be, but a good person surely wouldn't do that. There was no way of escaping the conversation so he opted for the second best choice; keeping it short.

"Fine. I spoke in a meeting when I was not supposed to and didn't fight when I was supposed to. Happy now? I got punished for being a coward," he spat out bitterly, angry tears piercing the back of his eyeballs. Even if he understood now that his father was wrong that day, it didn't mean he didn't still feel it. All of it; the humiliation, the pain, the impotent rage.

"I've never known you to back out of a fight, Zuko. No matter the odds." Katara's face was skeptical.

"It's the truth. That time I did," he slumped on the deck, his voice barely a whisper. It bothered him more than he admitted that Katara would think he was weak.

Katara crouched down next to him. "Zuko. You have many faults - you are stubborn, reckless, terrible at shipbuilding, you can't remember a story to save your life and you make bad speeches to sea ravens…"

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" he grimanced.

She put her hand on his shoulder, her touch centering him, drawing him back to the present, where he was free of his father. "...but being a coward is not one them. You know that, right?"

Zuko looked into the gentle blue of her eyes and nodded hesitantly.

"So tell me what really happened," she said quietly putting her hand on his.

Zuko stared for a moment at their intertwined fingers, her dark skin contrasting his pale, trying to come to a decision. What would a good person do? He had no idea. This was a topic he avoided even with Iroh. They were both too close to it; it was a murky ground.

Then he looked into her eyes shining with compassion and the words started spilling out; first hesitant and rusty, but then like a dam broke inside his mind. He told her everything; the war meeting, the general's evil plan, his outburst, the agni kai, his panic when he realized he was supposed to fight his own father.

Katara listened silently, her hand holding onto his.

"I...I couldn't fight him. I was on my hands and knees begging for his forgiveness," he finished bitterly. "And he just put his palm against my face and burnt me, like… like I meant nothing to him."

"He's a monster," Katara's eyes flashed with outrage.

"I should have fought back," he whispered.

"Zuko - none of that was your fault," her voice was gentle and soothing."You were just a child."

Zuko shook his head. "No, it's not just that. I went to speak to him during the eclipse, to show him that he has no power over me anymore. I had my swords, and when he struck me with lightning I redirected it but I still couldn't hurt him. I could have ended the war right there and then. I told myself that it was the Avatar's destiny to take out the Fire Lord. But maybe I'm lying to myself. I think there is a part of me that can't stop loving him, and I know it's pathetic."

"Zuko, look at me," Katara said firmly. As Zuko looked up, he realized that she had tears running down her face. "Once you told me that this marked you as a banished prince cursed to chase the Avatar. But you know what I see?" she reached out and touched the scar like she did in Ba Sing Se, without disgust or hesitation. Her fingers were cool and soothing, and he leaned into the touch instinctively. "I see a badge of honour, of bravery and compassion. I see a survivor. I see the face of a friend."

Zuko closed his eyes and the tears started pooling. Katara wrapped her arms around him and he buried his face in her soft hair. She held him as he finally allowed himself to cry for the child he used to be, someone kind and brave, someone who knew without a doubt right from wrong. He buried that child for so long under the ash and soot of his soul trying to become the twisted monster his father wanted him to be, mistaking honour for violence. Finally, he realized the scar was not a mark binding him to a path, but a mark of his freedom. He earned that. It didn't matter anymore what his father thought of him. He was free to become that boy again and he wowed to give meaning to his suffering.

-0-

* * *

They left the ship down at the old abandoned pier and climbed the steep, cliffs to the air temple. It was slow going; section by section Zuko found his way up the impossible looking vertical rocks and pulled Katara up with a rope. It took a few hours to get to the top.

At first Katara thought annoyed that Zuko made a mistake and there was nothing there. But then she heard voices arguing, unmistakably belonging to Aang and Sokka right below their feet somewhere, under the clouds. Katara's heart was drumming faster. She found them, finally!

She gave Zuko a wide smile. He looked back at her with just a hint of panic in his eyes.

"Maybe it's best if I talk to them first," she offered. It couldn't hurt to soften the ground first. "Just stay out of sight and wait for my signal."

Zuko nodded, his whole body radiating tension.

"Wait, what is the signal?" he asked with a frown.

"You'll know…"

She descended the long narrow stairs Zuko pointed out and stepped out to the terrace, her heart beating quickly. Sokka and Aang were crouched over the rice-pot with matching confused expressions on their faces. Toph lounged a bit further back, her feet up, an achingly familiar sight.

Momo noticed Katara first and flew onto her shoulder chirping excitedly, giving her an enthusiastic groom-over.

Aang looked up, his face lit up in realization. "Katara," he ran to her, enveloping her in a fierce hug. Katara wrapped her arms around his skinny body. She worried about him so much, it was so good to see he was all right.

He looked at her with big, gray eyes. "We were going to go back for you," was the first thing he said, clearly worried that she had thought they would leave her behind.

"I know," Katara smiled at him reassuringly. Of course she knew that. It was part of her worries that they'd do something stupid trying to find her.

"We thought you got captured, we were just trying to make a plan to find the right prison. Good to see you, Sis," Sokka added throwing himself into the group hug, squeezing her hard. But Katara didn't mind. She missed his goofy big brother too.

"Sugar Queen, you are back," Toph's friendly punch made the welcome wagon complete.

Everyone gathered around her bombarding her with questions..

"What happened?" Sokka asked. "How are you here?"

"Uhm, I got knocked out during the invasion, but then I got rescued. Except we, uhm… sort of crashed and got stuck on an island and fought a shark-squid. And stole an actual, real life pirate ship," she ended proudly. "You'll love it."

Annoyingly, Sokka did not focus on the long list of her amazing accomplishments, instead got stuck on the pronoun she used.

"We?" he asked suspiciously looking around.

Katara nodded with an uncertain smile. "Yeah. I brought a friend with me. Don't freak out - OK? He's good now. And he can teach Aang firebending," she added their main selling pitch in a hurry.

"Since when are firebenders your friends?" Sokka frowned.

Aang looked around nervously. "So where is this mystery teacher?"

"Hello, Zuko here!" the prince stepped out of his hiding place, smiling and waving his hands. Katara facepalmed. The idiot. This was not the signal, plus he forgot the eloquent apology they practiced and was back at his disaster sea-raven speech.

Aang, Sokka and Toph yelped in alarm, all assuming their fighting stances. Zuko held up his hands to show he meant no harm . Luckily, Appa came to the rescue. He gave Zuko an enthusiastic lick, covering him in sky bison slob. Aang and Sokka stared, jaws dropped. Toph frowned in confusion.

Katara gave Zuko an encouraging thumbs up - they were off to a promising start.

-0-

* * *

Zuko watched the sunset at one of the secluded terraces of the temple, listening to the enthusiastic chatter and laughter of the group that filtered from the main courtyard, thinking back to the first time when he came here with Uncle.

Iroh promised him he would find his destiny one day and Zuko felt it in his heart that, as unlikely as it was - this was it. A little ragtag group - a goofy bald kid, who happened to be the Avatar, a sarcastic water-tribe boy with a boomerang, a little blind, but very intimidating earthbender, a shaggy sky bison and a flighty lemur, and of course the amazing waterbender who had both storm and calming spring in her eyes.

It was nerve-wrecking to stand in front of them and ask for forgiveness, to be confronted with all his mistakes, but their initial resistance quickly eroded when both Katara and Appa vouched for him. And well, it didn't hurt that he had been the Blue Spirit.

There was still tension and awkward silences which is why he chose to get some distance. Their group deserved to catch up without interference. He smiled recalling how they all flocked to Katara like lost turtle-ducklings to the mother duck. They didn't fully trust him yet, but he had his foot in the door and that was all that mattered. He would do whatever it took to earn his place, his honour.

"That went well," Katara sat down next to him. There was relief in her voice.

"Better than you expected?" he cocked his good eyebrow.

"Why are you hiding here?" she asked.

"I'm not hiding. I guess it's still a bit awkward," he admitted.

Katara put her hand on his shoulder. "Give them time. They are good people."

"They are. It's me." Even if he was good now, he couldn't just forget all the bad things he had done, and he couldn't expect them to forget it either. He had to make it up to them.

Katara gave him a look. "Zuko, you are not bad. You sometimes have a hard time figuring out how to be good. But you are getting the hang of it. You'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

"Because you are here with us now. Where you are meant to be," she said with conviction.

There was lump in his throat. Destiny was a funny thing indeed. He was back here where his search began - having come a full circle. And she was right. It did feel like it was meant to be. All that struggle brought him here where he belonged. Katara believed it, and he'd prove her right.

"Thank you, Katara," he smiled at her shyly.

"You are an excellent addition to the group. No more spark rocks, a trained tea-maker, a walking warm blanket, a deep fountain of punchlines without beginning and misremembered snippets of wisdom. What's not to like?" she grinned.

"Now you are mocking me," he pouted.

"Teasing is how we show affection in the Water Tribe," she smiled.

"I'll try to remember," he replied lightly even if his chest squeezed at the word affection.

Katara stepped closer. "How do you show affection in the Fire Nation?" Her eyes glimmered playfully. Almost in challenge.

"We are kind of boring. We might hug or kiss…" he leaned closer.

Katara looked up at him expectantly, her face close. His heart beat wildly. Could he be misreading the situation? Was she really thinking what he thought she was thinking? He reached out to smooth her hair back, his hand slightly shaking.

"Is this all right?" He asked a bit breathless.

Katara nodded and leaned into his touch. "Not boring at all."

Zuko, watching her eyes intently, brushed his lips to hers. It was a brief, soft, almost reverent kiss, light like a caress but enough to imprint the way her lips opened slightly.

He enveloped her in an embrace, noticing how perfectly she fit against him. Her arms wrapped around his waist and he rested his chin on the top of her head.

The contact sent calming waves and electric vibrations through his veins. It didn't make any sense, except it did.

He sighed happily. Being good was hard, but it was the best thing ever.

* * *

**Author's note:**

That's it for this story. Thanks to all who joined me for the ride and left comments. Your little signs of appreciation means a lot to me.


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